Beating Traffic

The Lessons

Provide information at multiple locations. Orange lane cones are not enough direction during peak hours. Give patrons information on the deck and near lifeguards, and make sure that information is coordinated among your staff.

Maintain constant communication. Not only does this apply to any changes that might have been made to the lane schedule, but also any emergency situation that might occur. Communication is key when operating a large facility.

Make technology your friend. The World Wide Web can be a great place to inform guests about your facility, especially when it comes to schedules. While face-to-face communication is better, the Web is a time-saving alternative for busy patrons and staff.

Our facility is the largest aquatics facility in North Carolina with 72,000 square feet and 1.1 million gallons of water covering three pools. It also boasts a classroom, conference area, stadium seating and a dry-land workout space. The facility is home
to two well-respected competitive swim teams, outside private
programs as well as programs. In other words, we’re very
busy!

The facility’s goal is to have at least three recreational
lanes available at all times. But that posed a persistent problem
during peak hours.

Each morning, lifeguards mark the recreational lanes with orange
cones. But when a massive amount of people are on the deck due to
the programs, the orange cones can be hard to see, and they
aren’t always placed together. So guests either had to ask
guards which lanes were open or go back upstairs and wait in line
to get an answer from the front desk — often to find that
person didn’t know either. Of course, many guests chose
option three and just guessed, which caused even more
problems.

Fortunately, we came up with some simple solutions to solve our
aquatic traffic jams. We placed free-standing whiteboards at each
entrance to the main pool deck, which gave times, pool location and
lane location. Daily lane schedules also were placed by each pool
and by the lifeguard stand for easy access. Off-duty lifeguards
were made available to help with any question or direction.

To make sure the upstairs front desk and downstairs guards were on
the same page, we placed two-way radios in each of the pools as
well as at the front desk. This helped the front desk, operating
upstairs, convey the same information as the lifeguards, operating
downstairs.

Having a lot of people in one space, regardless of its size, can be
overwhelming. Some guests would rather come when we are not as
busy. To help with planning, our Web site offers an event schedule
that lets guests know what’s happening. But guests needed to
know more and often were calling the front desk. So we added a
current calendar to our Web site, which shows when swim teams have
practice, special events and learn-to-swim classes, as well as
which pool is open and for how long.

Now we have a lot less traffic congestion — and a lot more guest satisfaction.